1939 – 2016

PORTLAND — Col.

, USAF, retired, of Naples and Beverly Hills, Fla., passed Friday, June 24, at Maine Medical Center in Portland, after a four-year fight with pulmonary fibrosis.

Col. Jordan was born in Lewiston to Leon S. and Shirley D. Jordan on June 24, 1939, raised and schooled in Lisbon, and graduated from the University of Maine.

He is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Phyllis Burnham Jordan; wonderful children, Kelly Dawn Freedman and husband, Gary and granddaughter, Alexis and grandsons, Andrew and Michael of Dallas, Texas, and son, Richard Donald Jordan and wife, Julie, and four grandchildren, Sydney, Hunter, Donovan and Alyssa of New Hampshire. He is also survived by two loving sisters, Phyllis and husband, Dan Gamache and Carolyn (Pip) and husband, Randy Jones, all of Lisbon Falls; numerous nieces and nephews, mostly living in Maine; as well as close cousins and high school classmates that were a big part of his life in later years.

He was predeceased by his parents; and a brother, Wesley D. Jordan. 

After college, Col. Jordan was commissioned in the Air Force and spent 30 years of both active and reserved time, retiring in 1993. In this capacity, he served three and a half years in South Carolina for the Air Defense Command and a year remote in Thule, Greenland. Later, he made many trips to Europe and the Far East, including the Philippines, Okinawa, Japan and Korea on Air Force business.

Promoted early to colonel, he spent 11 of his 30 years in that grade with assignments as squadron commander at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts, and deputy wing commander at McGuire AFB, New Jersey. In the latter capacity, he commanded six squadrons, four in New Jersey and two in Massachusetts that included 1,000 men of a 4,000-man C-141 Military Airlift Wing. At the end of his career, he was Air Force liaison officer to the adjutant general, state of New Hampshire.

Having a dual career as a civilian, he initially lived in Edgewater Park, N.J., and worked for RCA Service Co., requiring work in Alaska, Greenland and England. He later moved to Hudson, N.H., and worked for RCA Automated Systems, then GE Aerospace and Martin Marietta in Burlington, Mass., for over 32 years, retiring in 1994.

Working initially in logistics, he was later a program manager with responsibility for fielding weapons systems. This work required frequent travel that had him in Germany two to three times a year for the Army and in Hawaii working on Marine Corps weapons systems. A fortuitous set of circumstances having to do with a plant closure allowed him to accept a golden handshake and retire at age 55.

Early retirement allowed him and his wife to winter in Florida where they have spent the past 19 winters, golfing and enjoying the warm winters. Many new friendships in Florida were made and he was active in their wonderful neighborhood.

He and his wife did lots of traveling. Purchasing a motor home in 2000, they traveled throughout America, in 40 states for four months and 16,000 miles, visiting most national parks and seeing this beautiful country. Later, they traveled with the older grandchildren to some of these same spots and a trans-Canadian trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Together, they traveled throughout Europe many times, including a recent trip that had them in the Baltic states and Russia. One of their favorite trips was west to Australia and New Zealand for three glorious weeks in 2009. Hawaii was also a favorite and between work, the Air Force and leisure, over a dozen trips were made to the islands.

Frequent cruisers, they covered nearly all of the Caribbean with over 15 cruise trips, most recently with their son and his family. They also did a European river cruise from the Black Sea to the North Sea in 2014.

Donald was an avid sports fan and loved his Red Sox and Patriots, who provided him lots of enjoyment in the past decade. He was a political junkie and followed politics closely and was a longtime critic of liberal policies.

Still, the most important thing to Col. Jordan was his family, the countless hours spent at their lakeside home in Naples and their pool home in Florida with children and grandchildren. He was very proud of his children’s success, but more important, he was proud of the good people they grew up to be.

His grandchildren also gave him a great sense of pride.

Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com.